Chapter Four: Parallel Pulse
Part One
Date: Maelis 26, Year 204 PCR
Location: Cantare Stronghold – Upper Resonance Hall
Time: Midday, under layered clouds
The hum of heatstones rose from the floor like breath trapped in silence.
Sylie stood barefoot in the center of the glyph ring, her pulse rhythm calm, head bowed just enough to hide the frustration in her brow. The training hall wasn't cooperating today. Not because of the Veilmarks. Not even because of the cracked floorplate beneath her. No—
Because Nima was chewing.
Loudly.
On what looked like a pocket bun she'd hidden in the folds of her sleeve.
"That's your third," Sylie muttered.
"It's actually my fifth," Nima said, voice muffled. "But I didn't eat the second one. Luma threw it at Liora's neck."
A beat of silence. Then—
"Because she was talking trash," Luma cut in from the far ring, one hand glowing faintly with a healing sigil gone sharp at the edges.
"You flickered first," Liora said, arms crossed, not looking at her. "Don't project your burnouts onto me."
"You're lucky my glyph didn't lock, or you'd be limping still."
"You aimed it at my neck, genius."
Sylie exhaled through her nose, letting the warmth of her pendant slip through her collar and press against her pulse. Her patience—years trained—was nearing its limit.
She opened her eyes.
"Again."
They froze.
Even Elari, who had up until that moment been staring at the resonance lantern overhead like it was singing to her, blinked and slowly returned to reality.
"Wait," Elari whispered, brows scrunching. "Was I… just standing here?"
"You were humming to the ceiling," Luma snapped.
"It was humming first."
The glyph ring beneath them adjusted slightly, warming with each synchronized heart pulse. Sylie stepped out of the center.
"Sync test. Veilmark stabilization. Five breaths. Then cast."
Liora rolled her shoulder. Luma cracked her knuckles. Nima unwrapped another bun.
Elari… tilted her head and stared at her own hand like she'd never seen it before.
The room dimmed as the Veilthread lattice spun once—slow, then steady. Their feet locked into place. Sylie nodded.
"One."
Their pulses aligned.
"Two."
Glyph rings began to glow.
"Three."
Liora's light surged. Luma's fire spat back. Nima's broth-scented steam puffed from her glyph like a kitchen nightmare.
"Four."
Elari's eyes unfocused. She raised her palm.
"Five—"
The air snapped.
Luma's glyph cracked down her forearm like a flash of lightning. Liora's defensive script collided mid-cast and backfired, forcing her to stumble three steps back.
Elari… was floating.
Just slightly.
And humming again.
"You were supposed to stabilize," Sylie snapped, catching Liora with one hand and flicking a healing surge through her leg. "Not vaporize the ring."
"I didn't mean to," Luma gritted.
"You always don't mean to," Liora muttered.
Nima wandered through the smoke, licking broth off her fingers.
"I think mine tasted like ginger this time."
Sylie stepped back into the center. Her boots thudded onto the resonance plate. Her voice sharpened.
"This isn't for fun. The next time I send you to reinforce a Veilmark fracture, I won't be there to reset it for you."
"Maybe don't send us then," Luma said.
"Maybe get your pulse under control."
The Veilthread above them pulsed once—then dimmed.
Sylie caught the shift.
That wasn't a cast.
That was terrain resonance. External.
The hall hummed again—low, almost sorrowful. Like someone had just activated a glyph with too much grief layered into it.
She looked out the slit window. Somewhere beyond the trees, far west past the old path stones—
Something had just been remembered.
"Again," Sylie said, softer now.
The girls didn't argue this time.
Even Elari blinked like a dream had ended. Even Luma stepped back into place without protest.
Even Nima stopped chewing.
The glyph ring began to glow.
And above them, just for a moment, the pulse caught the rhythm of something unspoken. Something humming louder than even the Choir could silence.
A memory returning.